Fortuna Favi Fortus or Fortune Favors the Brave, is the simplest way I can summarize Stephen Schwarzman's memoir titled "What It Takes : Lessons in the Pursuit of Excellence".
The book starts on a rainy day in 1987 at MIT's campus in Boston, Massachusetts where Stephen and his partner Pete Peterson get stood up by MIT's endowment board when they went there to raise funds for the fund they just started called 'Blackstone'. And ever so poetically, ends at MIT itself with MIT's President Rafael Reif saying that a standing ovation is something he has never seen happen at MIT as Schwarzman makes one of his biggest ever contributions to academia to set up 'MIT Stephen A. Schwarzman College of Computing' to contribute to the global opportunities and challenges presented by the rise of Artificial Intelligence. His persistence won yet again and his impact today is far reaching from MIT, to Oxford to Tsinghua University and the million or so employees of the companies Blackstone invested in and unlocked value from.
Giving is something that Schwarzman seems to have has an enduring quality as he narrates his life story along with the story of developing Blackstone in to a corporation with over 500 billion in assets. The best lesson for me was about setting higher aspirations for oneself which Schwarzman states beautifully this way - "It’s as easy to do something big as it is to do something small, so reach for a fantasy worthy of your pursuit, with rewards commensurate to your effort." The book full of innumerable lessons for people who not only aspire to be entrepreneurs or fund managers but for every professional who wants to make it worthwhile.
In true corporate style, he leaves us with his 25 rules for work and life worth pinning up our desks. Yes his last name is a mouthful, his life experiences more than a handful but the book leaves you motivated and heartful.
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